An apostolic constitution () is the most solemn form of

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

issued by the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

.New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, pg. 57, footnote 36. By their nature, apostolic constitutions are addressed to the public. Generic constitutions use the title ''apostolic constitution'' and treat solemn matters of the church, such as the promulgation of laws or definitive teachings. The forms dogmatic constitution and pastoral constitution are titles sometimes used to be more descriptive as to the document's purpose. Apostolic constitutions are issued as

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

s because of their solemn, public form. Among types of papal legislation, apostolic letters issued '' motu proprio'' are next in solemnity.

References

Citations

Sources

* Huels, John M. "A theory of juridical documents based on canons 29-34", ''Studia Canonica'', 1998, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 337–370. * Beal, John P., James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green. ''New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law: Commissioned by the Canon Law Society of America'' (New York: Paulist Press, 2000). {{Papacy Catholic canonical documents Christian genres Christian terminology Sources of law